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Jefferson Parkway land swap hits major delay

Superior lawsuit prompts feds to move right-of-way transfer to September

By John Aguilar The Camera

Posted:
01/13/2012 04:13:48 PM MST

Updated:
02/15/2012 11:45:12 AM MST

Section 16, in the upper right of this photo taken looking north on U.S. 93 to the Colo. 72/Coal Creek Canyon Road intersection, is the land at issue in the lawsuit Superior filed to stop a land transfer in connection with the Jefferson Parkway. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife has agreed to delay the transfer until September.
(
Jeremy Papasso
)

A controversial land swap that is a critical step in bringing the proposed Jefferson Parkway between Broomfield and Golden to fruition won't take place later this month as planned and might be in limbo until late summer.

According to motions filed in federal court this week, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service agreed to delay until Sept. 1 the transfer of a right of way on the eastern boundary of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge that could be used for the tollway.

The decision comes as part of a lawsuit Superior filed against the agency last month, in which the town challenged U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services's conclusion that a highway resulting from a land swap would have "no significant impact" on the natural or human environment.

Attorneys for the town this week withdrew a motion for preliminary injunction that they had filed to stop the land exchange, which was scheduled to happen in the coming days, after the agency agreed to a delay.

"Essentially, Superior got exactly what it wanted," said attorney Tim Gablehouse, who is representing the town. "The right of way is not being transferred until Superior's concerns are addressed."

An attempt to reach an official with the U.S. Department of Justice, which represents the Fish & Wildlife Service, was unsuccessful.

A federal judge will assess the merits of Superior's claims -- that allowing the exchange fails to protect wildlife corridors, riparian zones, water quality and the health and safety of town residents -- and rule on the lawsuit in the coming months.

Golden recently filed its own suit against the proposed land exchange and it is possible the city will consolidate its legal action with the one brought by Superior.

The future of the 10-mile tollway, which would nearly complete the high-speed beltway around Denver, is tied to a complicated land exchange proposal involving acreage on both sides of the refuge. Under one scenario, the Fish & Wildlife Service would give a 300-foot wide right of way along Indiana Avenue to the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority and get in return 617 acres of a parcel, known as Section 16, on the west side of the refuge.

But opponents of the four-lane Jefferson Parkway, including Superior Trustee Debra Williams, fear a highway on the southern boundary of Superior would funnel a high volume of cut-through traffic down McCaslin Boulevard. They also worry that road construction could disturb plutonium that accumulated over the decades the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant operated there.

Williams said she was pleased there will now be plenty of time for the judge to assess Superior's claims.

"I find it hard to believe that a judge is just going to dismiss this and say 'We're good,'" she said.

She also said the land transfer delay might have the effect of throwing a monkey wrench into the parkway's forward progress.

"At this point, it's going to be pretty difficult to see them breaking ground in 2012," Williams said.

But Broomfield Mayor Pat Quinn, who serves on the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority's board, said the tie-ups in court won't do much to throw the project off schedule.

"We weren't going to start construction in nine months," he said.

Quinn said the authority is still trying to determine financing feasibility and design of the roadway, all of which can be done without securing a right of way.

"If we were to acquire the right of way in September, it wouldn't slow down the project," he said.

Broomfield has long been a supporter of completing the parkway. In December, City Council voted unanimously to contribute $933,334 to the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority to go toward purchasing the 617 acres in Section 16 which would be swapped for the 300-foot wide right of way along Indiana Avenue.

Broomfield also contributed $200,000 to the Parkway Authority's budget for the project in 2012, about a third of the authority's budget for the year, a large chunk of which is slated to pay legal costs.

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